Each Pipe Has Its Role: Thompson Pipe Group’s Product Range
A worker installs a section of pipe.
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project in Seattle, Washington, for a little under 4 years. As that project came to an end, a friend I’d worked with on the bridge accepted a position with Thompson Pipe Group. The company said it was looking for somebody in the Northwest with my sort of background, so in 2015, I accepted the job.
Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.
Carl Pitzer: Thompson Pipe Group was founded by Ken Thompson in 1972 as Thompson Brothers Utility Construction and worked as a large utility contractor, installing large-diameter concrete pipe in Southern California. It developed a way to cast pipe in place in the trench and eventually started precasting pipe. The company saw a need for quality reinforced concrete pipe, and in 1987, it broke
Carl Pitzer: I graduated from Oregon State University’s construction engineering management program in 2012. After graduation, I went to work for Kiewit Construction and worked on the structures on the 520 floating bridge
26 | IRRIGATION LEADER | September 2020
Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about Thompson Pipe Group and its history.
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PHOTOS COURTESY OF THOMPSON PIPE GROUP.
hompson Pipe Group is a national pipe manufacturer that works on municipal and irrigation pipe projects across North America. It manufactures steel, fiberglass-reinforced plastic (FRP), and concrete pipe as well as joints and fittings. Thompson also manufactures products for trenchless pipe installation. In this interview, Thompson Pipe Group Trenchless and Pacific Northwest Manager Carl Pitzer tells Irrigation Leader about the characteristics and uses of each type of pipe his company builds and about trends in the pipe industry.
